The Subversive Art of a Classical Education

“Reading The Subversive Art of a Classical Education, the first words that sprang to mind were Pope's: 'What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed.' This is a book that should be read by every classical educator in the land, and every parent serious about their child's education. It explains what the classical education movement is trying to accomplish, its philosophy in the original sense of that word, and illustrates by its eloquence, poise, and moral gravitas the forma mentis of the classically educated gentleman. A pleasure to read.”—James Hankins, Professor of History, Harvard University “Michael S. Rose is a revolutionary on a mission to liberate this generation from the cultural amnesia foisted on them by the educational status quo. By unleashing his classical vision, he demonstrates what it means to educate: to lead students to what they ought to know and ought to love. The Subversive Art of a Classical Education strikes one mighty blow after another for cultural anamnesis and signals a path to genuine educational renewal. Read it. Join his revolution. Subvert the fleeting with the permanent.”—Andrew J. Zwerneman, President, Cana Academy, History250 Writer & Narrator “The most complete resource for classical education done well that I have ever seen! How Michael Rose managed to cover all the benefits of the form and content of this education in a single resource boggles my mind. He looks beyond the intellectual benefits—though that’s explained—to the virtuous formation of the human who is a student in this tradition in these ways. With many more resources listed in every chapter, this book is a college-level course for teachers, parents, and school founders for how to promote this movement beautifully. Whatever revolution Michael Rose is leading, I’m in!”—Jessica Hooten Wilson, Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, and author of The Scandal of Holiness and Reading for the Love of God “Michael Rose, admirable in so many ways, writes from rich experience and deep wisdom to address the most pressing need of our day: the recovery of our humanity through the patient work of classical education. This work is indeed subversive, but that is because of a Zeitgeist hellbent on commodifying every facet of what ought to be an education. The Zeitgeist reduces knowledge to mere information mediated through devices, whereas a genuine classical education brings students into an unmediated encounter with the good, true, and beautiful. Rose’s careful work raises hope of a reversion, a recovery of time-tested ways of knowing, and a renewal of our culture.”—Jonathan J. Sanford, PhD, President of the University of Dallas ""Classical schools are one of the best things happening in education today, and this book by Michael S. Rose demonstrates why. He's a classical school leader and speaks with expertise and verve of how wonderfully subversive and ‘magnificently absurd’ it is to relish grammar and formal logic, to walk with Shakespeare, Augustine, and Dostoevsky, to set down the screen, drop current events, and go back to the mind of Madison and Cicero. Rose makes it fun.  New schools are opening or expanding all the time. This book is an intellectual map for the curriculum and pedagogy they devise.""—Mark Bauerlein, Professor of English, Emory University, and author of The Dumbest Generation and The Dumbest Generation Grows Up “Needle in a haystack? No problem, with a magnet in hand! Michael Rose gives us just the right tool – winsome, compelling and practical – to find the truly human style of education that most teachers want but which ‘the system’ has obscured with a giant stack of hay bureaucracies. If you are a teacher, principal or parent, please read this book. In the noise of countless options, this is THE ONE to read. In fact, buy it for the whole faculty, walk through it in your faculty meetings, short chapter by short chapter, discussing as you go. It will be the best professional development you ever encountered. 2500 years of distilled ‘best practices’ in one enjoyable read. This is a joyful and hopeful must for any teacher or school that is concerned about teaching children, not systems.”—Michael Van Hecke, President and Publisher, Catholic Textbook Project ""The arts described in this book constitute education done rightly. To recognize their subversiveness—from the Latin for “overturn”—is a secondary observation. The fact that they are subversive only demonstrates their necessity.  Michael S. Rose proposes a quintessentially American revolution in education: an overturning of the new tyrannical order in favor of the old means of freedom.”—Dr. Larry P. Arnn, President, Hillsdale College